Members and supporters of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, on Sept. 27, gathered at Ignite Glass Studios, 401 N. Armour St., for the organization's "Windy City Toasts" celebration.
The event called attention to the work of openly-gay elected officials from across the country, and honored two Chicago politicians, state Rep. Kelly Cassidy ( D ) and Ald. Tom Tunney ( 40th ). Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, based in Washington, D.C., provides financial and logistical support to openly LGBT candidates in local-, state- and federal-level elections.
South Bend ( Indiana ) Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke about his experience coming out, which he did in a newspaper opinion piece on June 16, 2015. In doing so, Buttigieg—who was already the youngest-ever mayor of a city with over 100,000 people—became the first openly-gay executive official in the Hoosier State's history. He detailed several challenges facing his city and state, among them South Bend's overcoming the stigma of being labeled a "dying city" by newsweek and the state government's passage last spring of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Buttigieg called the legislation a humiliation for the state, adding that it was "a handful of legislators and our governor telling an entire segment of society that they were not welcome."
He said he was caught-off guard by the bill going through and the storm of controversy that followed, adding, "I thought it was going to come and go, that there'd just be a couple days of fuss and that it would go away. Instead, it became a rallying cry for the entire country to stand up and say, 'This isn't okay. This isn't us.'"
But Buttigieg admitted that the controversy worked in South Bend's favor, bringing to light some anti-discrimination advancements the city had already made. "In my first year in office, we published and put into law a human rights ordinance that said you can't be fired for who love, that [included] gender identity and sexual orientation," he noted.
Despite "some static" when he came out, Buttigieg had numerous people to reach out and lend support, he said. "But this isn't over," he added. "If I win in six weeks, when I'm on the ballot, it will be the first time that any LGBT person has been elected to high office in Indiana, first time ever, and … in most parts of Indiana, it is perfectly lawful to fire somebody, or discriminate against them, simply because of who they love."
Buttigieg spoke of organizations and supporters "having his back," a thread picked up by Cassidy after she accepted an award from Victory Campaign Board Member Eric Nelson, explaining the need to cultivate a new generation of LGBT political leaders.
"Groups like Victory make it possible for us to ensure that there is a farm team, that there are always people coming up behind us," Cassidy said. "The city elections showed that; we had some wonderful new blood come onto the city council."
Tunney, who accepted his award from Victory Campaign Board Member Justin DeJong, is now one of five members, or 10 percent, of the Chicago city council. "The difference of having a gay or lesbian person on the city council is phenomenal," he said.
Among those also speaking at the event were Angie Craig, a Minnesota candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, and LaWana Mayfield, of Charlotte, North Carolina, who is that city's first openly gay city council member as well as the second Black woman to sit on the council. Victory Institute Board Member Debra Shore and Victory Campaign Board Member Clark Pellett, as well as Victory Fund Board Chair Kim Hoover, introduced the program.
